Our recent excursion to dispose of a kobold threat, along with some research by the prescient chap we met earlier, has led to the belief that our visit to the Old Keep will be more trouble than a simple cartography mission. Not only is the rumour of goblins true but now we understand that there is likely to be a gate to hell someone in its depths, a gate that is ever closer to being worked open by the goblins.

Not that we are necessarily strangers to gates to hell. Most of us have a vague recollection from a previous incarnation of opening a doorway to hell that created a bone church. But that was an accident and one we don't want to repeat.

We make our way to the Keep and the journey is uneventful. Arriving at the ruins the air becomes unnaturally quiet and the vegetation seems like it dares not to encroach upon the Keep's grounds, not exactly a good sign. Despite this, we have a job to do. It is quiet and uninhabited above ground and we wonder whether we should start mapping the Keep as we go, or whether we should deal with any unseen threat first.

Adran, our ranger, shares his thoughts. 'We know there are goblins in the area, so we don't want to be caught mapping with our pants down.'

'I don't want to catch you mapping with your pants down, goblins or otherwise. What perverts have had you map for them in the past?!' It's a question best left unanswered. 'Regardless of that, you have a point. With our indiscriminate method of combat the placement of pillars and doors could well be different on a map after a fight than before it. On top of that, if the hell mouth is opened, our map is going to be out of date before we have even finished it. Let's map on the way out, not the way in.'

It is a persuasive argument. As if to prove the point, down the first flight of stairs the warrior changes the layout of the Keep by falling in to a trap that reveals a pit in the middle of the room. As he lies in the pit being nibbled on by a swarm of rats we are all relieved that at least we're not wasting effort by trying to map a changing environment.

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on 18th September 2008 at 9.12 pm and is filed under Dungeons & Dragons.
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